Memorandum book



June 6, 1 939.

w. R. BUXTON MEMORANDUM BUCK Filed March 19; 19s? 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY him/7m 3.50170 @fiv 7%6' TORNEYS Patented June 6,1939

UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE 5 Claims.

This invention relates to memorandum books of the refill type in which a plurality of memorandum pads are each detachably held in place on the cover or folder of the book by the insertion of the tongue-like back of the pad in a socket provided on the cover or folder.

This application is a continuation in part of my application for U. S. Letters Patent filed March 8, 1935, under Serial No. 10,026. The invention is directed to the provision on the folder of the book of a systematically planned array of pad-supporting sockets, cooperatively arranged to carry pads of the same kind and of various sizes to the end that, within the same area of the folder, there may be carried one large pad or two or more smaller pads of equal size or of various sizes.

The invention provides within the same area of the folder, a plurality ,of series of sockets, the several series being disposed in superposed relation and each series containing a difierent number of sockets, the sockets in each series being of equal width and the socket width of each series, except that having the largest numberof sockets, being a multiple of the socket width of said series which has the largest number of sockets.

With this arrangement, the manufacturer can satisfy the individual needs of acustomer with one folder. For example, the folder may have a full width socket and other rows of sockets, such as one containing two sockets each of halfwidth, one containing three sockets each of onethird width and one containing six sockets each of one-sixth width. The manufacturer has pads of full width, half width, one-third width and one-sixth width and so forth. Then, if a customer wishes merely a full width pad, he will place the tongue of the pad in the'full width socket; if. two half-size pads aredesired, the tongues of these pads are" placed one in each of the half-width sockets, and soon. However,

the customer may, for example, desire one pad of half-width, one of one-third width and one of one-sixth width and in this case the tongues of the three pads are placed in sockets in different rows. Thus, with one folder and an assortment of memorandum pads, themanufacturer can supply various sizes of pads and various combinations of pads of different sizes.

To enable use of the folder in the manner described, it is important that any combination of small-size pads, which may be chosen, should present as neat and orderly appearance as a single full-size pad and this invention has for one object the provision of means for holding the unit pads of any such combination with their ends in alinement one with another and their edges in parallel relation one with another, so that the combination of pads presents substantially the appearance of one large pad.

Other objects will appear as the-detailed description proceeds and will be pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention will be disclosed with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig; 1 is a front elevational view of the cover only of the memorandum book,such cover being shown in open position;

Fig. 2 is a similar view, except that three l5 memorandum pads of different sizes are shown mounted in the folder;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2; v

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 and drawn to a considerably larger scale, the parts being shown greatly exaggerated in thickness in order to secure clearness of illustration;

Fig. 5 is a small scale, front elevational view of a full size of memorandum pad capable of being mounted in the folder;

Figs. 6 and 7 are views, taken similarly to Figs. 1 and 2, but showing a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line !8 of Fig. 7; I

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 9-4! of 'Fig. 6 and drawn to a considerably larger scale,-the parts being shown greatly exaggerated in thickness in order to secure clearness of illustration; and

Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken, on the line Ill-l0 of Fig. 8. r

Referring to these drawings: the folder or cover comprises a strip ill of leather or the like, shown as of rectangular form, which is foldable along a central line such as H, intermediate its ends, to superpose one half. upon the other and close the book. On this strip Ill ,various other pieces of leather or the like are superposed in order to form pockets.

On one side of line ,a piece i2 is superposed on folder I; a piece I! of smaller area is superposed on piece l2; a piece I! smaller in area than piece II is superposed onthe'latter; and a piece LI smaller than piece It is'super'p'osed thereon. The lower" side edges of pieces l2, ll, II and I5 coincide with the lower side edge of folder II and are secured thereto by stitches I6. 55

anend edge of folder l0 and are secured thereto by stitches l1. Between each adjoining pair of these pieces and between piece l2 and folder l0, pockets of varying sizes are formed for the insertion of papers, cards, passes or other articles. Access to each pocket is facilitated by the progressively decreasing area of the pieces I2 to l5 inclusive. One wall of. each such pocket extends beyond the other and overlying wall thereof, serving as a guide to facilitate the insertion of papers into the pocket.

The provisions for detachably mounting memorandum pads are shown in one form in Figs. 1 to 5. Referring to these figures, on the right hand side of line H a stack of four rectangular strips 8, I9, 20 and 2| are superposed on folder l0 and secured thereto along their upper and lower side edges and their outer end edges to the corresponding and coincident edges of the folder by stitches 22. These strips are of different widths, increasing progressively from the outermost one 8 to the innermost one 21, whereby their inner edges are spaced one from another. Formed between the strip 2| and the underlying portion of folder I0 is a socket 23 (Fig. 4) substantially equal in width to the width of the folder. The strip 20 is fastened, as by stitches 24, to the underlying portion of strip 2| along a line parallel to and centrally between the side edges of folder I 0, thus forming two sockets 25, each of substantially half the width of the folder. The strip I9 is fastened to the underlying portion of strip 20 and also to the overlying portion of strip l8 by two spaced lines of stitches 25 which parallel the side edges of the folder and divide the space formed between strips l9 and 20 into three sockets 21, each of one-third the width of socket 23. The strip I8 is fastened to the underlying portion of strip l9 by three lines of stitches 29 as well as by the described lines of stitches 26, whereby the space between strips l8 and I9 is subdivided in six sockets 30, each of one-sixth the width of socket 23.

The sockets 23, 25, 21 and 30 are adapted to receive cardboard tongues, such as 3| (Fig. 3), forming the backs of memorandum pads of various widths,-such as the full size pad 32 (shown small-scale in Fig. 5 but equal in width to the width of socket 23), half-size pads 33, one-third size pads 34 and one-sixth size pads 35, respectively. These pads may be of any desired kind. Those shown have a stub portion such as 31' (Fig. 5) secured, as indicated, by staples 36' to the cardboard back or tongue 3|. The leaves of each pad are detachable from the stub thereof.

Each of the backs or tongues 3|, as herein shown, are identical in length, width and shape to its pad. Each back 3| closely fits the sides of the socket or sockets in which it is intended to be placed, whereby the pads, such as those shown for example in Fig. 2, may be held substanti'ally in parallelism one with another and with the side edges of folder In. The outer end edge of each back 3| is intended to abut the outer or closed end of the socket or sockets in which it is adapted to be inserted. Thus, although the sockets 23, 25, 21 and 30. vary in depth, decreasing progressively in the order named, the end edges of the pads are held substantially in alinement, as will be clear from Fig. 2. Thus, the pads are so mounted in the folder as to be maintained in parallel relation with alined ends, whereby to present a. neat appearance.

2,161,015 The outer end edges of these pieces coincide with The last described-socket provisions enable the pocket book manufacturer to easily satisfy the widely varying demands of this trade. One customer, perhaps, prefers one full-size pad such as 32. The back or tongue 3| of such pad is inserted in socket 23 and the need is satisfied. One may wish two half-size pads 33, in which case their backs 3| are inserted into the sockets 25. Similarly, if three pads, such as 34 are desired, their backs are slipped into the sockets 21 and if six pads, such as 35 are desired, their backs are slipped into the sockets 30. Aside from these four different arrangements, various other combinations of pads are possible, such as the one shown in Fig. 2, comprising one half-size pad, one third-size pad and one sixth-size pad. Sockets 25, 21 and 30 at different levels are then utilized. One can use one half-size pad with three one-sixth size pads; one one-third size pad with four one-sixth size pads; two onethird size pads with two one-sixth size pads. Thus, eight different arrangements are possible with the socket provisions described and, obviously, the socket provisions can be varied or extended to secure other and additional combinations if desired.

It might be thought that the five thicknesses of material on each side of the fold line H of folder l0 result in a very bulky article. Such, however, is not the case. The combined thickness of the section shown in Fig. 4 is approximately four times its actual thickness.

The pockets formed on the left hand side of fold line H serve to retain sheets which have been detached from the various pads and on which memoranda have been placed. These pockets are of varying sizes and are thus adapted to the needs of memorandum pad arrangement. That is, there is a small pocket for sheets from pads 34 or 35, a larger pocket for sheets from pad 33, and still larger pockets for sheets from pad 32.

The pad supporting sockets do not necessarily have to have closed outer ends as shown in Fig. 1. These sockets may be open at both ends and the alining function, which in Fig. 1 was per- 1 formed by the closed ends of the sockets, may be accomplished by other means. An example of one such means is shown, in connection with sockets open at both ends, in Figs. 6 to 10.

Referring to the last-named figures, on the folder l9 and located to the right of the fold line H, are mounted in superposed relation a series of strips,-in this case four, viz., 36, 31, 33 and 39. The strips 36, 31 and 38 are of less width than those shown in Fig. 1 and terminate short of the right hand end edge of folder I0. The outer strip 39 may, as shown, extend to such edge for the purpose of covering and concealing the outer ends of the underlying sockets to be later described. However, the wider strip 39 has no purpose other than to improve the appearance of the book and might otherwise be as narrow as the others which underlie it. The outer strip 39 is stitched along its upper and lower side and its outer end edge to the folder III by stitches 40 and some of these stitches pass through the ends of the three underlying strips 36, 31 and 38 to hold the latter in place.

The pad-supporting sockets are formed in the following manner. The inner strip 36, being fastened to the cover l0 only along its ends, forms with the underlying portion of the'cover a socket 4| of proper size to support a full width pad. The outer strip 39 is secured to the underlying strips 36, 31 and 38 along a central line of stitching 42. There are thus formed between strips 38 and 39' two sockets 43 of equalwidth. The strip 38 is secured to the underlying strip 36 and 31 by two lines of stitching 44 in addition to the stitching 42. Thus, there are formed between the strips 31 and 38, four sockets 45 and these sockets are of equal width. The strip 31 is fastened to the strip 36 by four lines of stitching 46, in addition to the stitchings42 and 44. Thus, there are, formed between the strips and 31, eight sockets 41 and these sockets are of equal width.

The sockets 4|, 43, and 41 are adapted to receive the cardboard tongues 48 of memorandum pads of various width. The socket 4| is adapted to receive the tongue of a memorandum pad of fullwidth similar to that shownin Fig. 5. The sockets 43 are adapted to receive the tongues of half-width pads, one of which is shown at 49 in Fig. '7. The sockets 45 are adapted to receive the tongues of quarter-width pads, one of which is shown at 50 in Fig. '7. The sockets 41 are adapted to receive the tongues of one-eighth width pads, two of which are shown at 5| in Fig. 7. Thepads may be constructedas heretofore described with a 'stub 31' secured by staples 35' to the tongue 48. These tongues may be tapered, as

shown in Fig. 10, to facilitate insertion of them into the sockets. However, there should be a portion of the tongue which is equal in width to the width of the socket and which closely fits the inner and entrance end of the same. This portion may desirably have parallel'side edges 52 as shown in Fig. 10 but this, while desirable and preferred, is not necessarily essential.

The alinement' of the pads is accomplished as before by the cooperative engagement of a part of the pad with a wall of the socket. In this case, however, the engaging parts are located at the inner rather than the outer ends of the sockets and pads. One wall of each socket, except socket 4|, has two shoulders 53, disposed one on each side of the socket and at the mouth or entrance end of the socket. Between these shoulders, each such wall is cut back along an arc of a circle as shown at 54. The strip 36 is not thus cut back and hasnt two spacedshoulders but its entire inner edge 55 forms a shoulder. All the shouldersare alined and lie in the same vertical plane as the edge 55. When the tongue 48 of a pad is inserted into its socket, the stub part 31 in this case, or any other suitable means, abuts the two spaced shoulders 53 and locates it in proper position endwise so that both its inner and outer ends will aline with the corresponding ends of other pads as shown in Fig. '7.

It is very desirable to have provisions for guiding the tongues of the pads into their respective sockets. The terraced arrangement of the socketforming strips of Fig. 1 is designed for such purpose, and it also enables convenient selection of the desired size of socket. The lower wall of each socket projects beyond the upper wall and one simply lays the tongue of the pad on the exr posed part of the underlying wall and pushes it into the socket. When, however, one wishes to retain these guiding provisions and at the same time have the alining provisions located at the entrance ends of the sockets, the arrangement of socket-forming strips shown in Fig. 1 will not do. It is necessary to have all the pad-locating shoulders in the same plane which precludes the terraced arrangement of Fig. 1. To solve the problem, I reverse the order of the pockets shown in Fig. 1 and use the cut back portions 54. The

full-size socket 4| remains in its former location but immediately adjacent to it is the series having the greatest number of sockets, such as 41. Above the series of eight sockets 41, is a series of four sockets 45 and above that is the outer series of two sockets 43. With this arrangement, it is possible to have two shoulders 53 for each socket of each series located in the same vertical plane and at the same time have a portion of the bottom wall of each socket exposed as a guide to facilitate selection of the desired socket and the insertion of the tongue of the pad therein.

The form of the invention shown in Figs. 6 to 10 is preferred because it enables a material reduction in bulk. The tongues of the pad need not extend to the outer edge of the cover as before, reducing thickness at the outer edge where it is desired to have the edge of the book as thin as possible. Thinner tongues may be used to still further reduce the thickness of the book be, cause the tongues are not inserted so far into the sockets as before and do not fit the sockets tightly except at the entrance ends. The former tongues had tobe relatively stifi inorder to enable them to be pushed into the sockets since both edges of the tongue were frictionally engaged with the sides of the socket along the entire length thereof. This form of invention also enables savings in cost of manufacture. The tongues of thepads do not need to be fitted with such close accuracy and less leather is used in the socket-forming means. In addition, a better book, less bulky and more attractive in appearance results.

In each form of the invention, there is the same systematic plan of sockets. Each series has a different number of sockets; all the sockets in each are of equal width and the socket width in each series except that having the largest number of sockets is a multiple of the socket width of the last-named series. Both forms of the in? vention provide cooperativelyengaged means. in part on the pad and in part on a wall of the socket, to aline the pads properly and, preferably also, the means for facilitating selection iota desired socket and insertion 'ofthe tongue of a going description.

What I claim is:

1. A memorandum book of the refill type, adapted to receive a plurality of combinations of memorandum pads of varying widths which comprises, front and back cover members, a plurality of overlying pad retaining members secured at their ends to one of i said cover members, each retaining member being secured to the adjacent underlying retaining member along spaced lines to provide a plurality of superposed series of sockets for the reception of tongues secured to the back of the filler pads, the width of the so formed sockets of each series being equal and the socket width of each succeeding series being greater than and a multiple of thesocket width of the outermost series, said sockets each having a closed end adapted to be engaged by one end of a tongue, and the closed ends of all the sockets being alined, whereby pads when inof memorandum pads of varying widths which comprises, front and back cover members, a plurality of overlying pad retaining members secured at their ends to one of said cover members, each retaining member being secured to the adjacent underlying retaining member along spaced lines to provide a plurality of superposed series of sockets for the reception of tongues secured to the back of'the filler pads, the width of the sockets in each series being equal and the socket width of each series being diflerent, the socket width of each series except that series having the greatest number of sockets being a multiple of the socket width of the last-named series, each socket having shoulder-forming means for abutment with a part of the pad to limit the degree to which the tongue of the pad is inserted in the socket and said shoulder forming means of all the sockets of all the series being alined, whereby when a plurality of pads are mounted in a plurality of said sockets their ends will be alined.

3. A memorandum book of the refill type, adapted to receive a plurality of combinations of memorandum pads of varying widths which comprises, front and back cover members, a plurality of overlying pad retaining members secured at their ends to one of said cover members, each retaining member being secured to the adjacent underlying retaining member along spaced lines to provide a plurality of superposed series of sockets for the reception of tongues secured to, the back of the filler pads, the width of the,

sockets in each series being equal and the socket width of each series being different, the socket width of each series except that series having the greatest number of sockets being a multiple of the socket width of the last-named series, said sockets each having a closed end adapted to be engaged by one end of a tongue, and the closed ends of all the sockets being alined, whereby pads when inserted in said sockets with their tongues abutting said closed ends will be alined.

4. A memorandum book of the refill type, adapted to receive a plurality of combinations of memorandum pads of varying widths which comprises, front and back cover members, a plurality of overlying pad retaining members secured at their ends to one of said cover members,

each retaining member being secured to the adjacent underlying retaining member along spaced lines to provide a plurality of superposed series of sockets for the reception of tongues secured to the back of the filler pads, the width of the sockets in each series being equal and the socket width of each series being different, the socket width of each series except that series having the greatest number of sockets being a multiple of -the socket width of the last-named series, each socket having shoulder-forming means at the entrance end thereof for abutment with a part of the pad to limit the degree to which the tongue of the pad is inserted in-the socket and said shoulder forming means of all the sockets of all the series being alined, whereby when a plurality of pads are mounted in a plurality of said sockets their ends will be alined.

5. A memorandum book of the refill type, adapted to receive a plurality ofcombinations of memorandum pads of varying widths which comprises, front and back cover members, a plurality of overlying padretaining members secured at their ends to one of said cover members, each retaining member being secured to the adjacent underlying retaining member along spaced lines to provide a plurality of superposed series of sockets for the reception of tongues secured to the back of the filler pads, the width of the sockets in each series being equal and the socket width of each series being different, the series of sockets formed between the two innermost members having the greatest number of sockets, the

socket width of each succeeding series being greater than and a multipleof the socket width of the first-named series, each said member having a plurality of shoulders arranged-in pairs one pair for each socket of the series immediately 1111-? derlying such member, each pair of shoulders being disposed one on each side of its socket at the entrance end thereof for abutment with a part of the pad to limit the extent to which the tongue of the pad can be inserted in its socket, each said member being cut away between each pair of shoulders to expose the shoulders on the member immediately underlying it, all the shoulders on all the members being alined in one common plane, whereby when a plurality of pads are mounted in a plurality of sockets the ends of all the pads will be alined.

' WARNER R. BUXTON. 

